The Watchful Gate

Fr. Seraphim Rose gave a notable lecture at the University of Santa Cruz in 1981, just a year before he reposed, to a class which was a survey of world religions.  Several people found this lecture (alongside another that was given) to be life changing for them. Amidst the spiritual smorgasboard that was UC Santa Cruz, Fr. Seraphim stood out.  The lecture which is now available in streaming form, is preceded by an introduction by Fr. Damascene Christiansen, and the lecture is read by a member of the St. Herman Brotherhood for the first several minutes (this part of the lecture wasn't taped). Then the audio switches, and you can hear the rest of the lecture as given by Fr. Seraphim.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Hieromonk Seraphim Rose, Ancient Faith Radio has made a special edition of "The Illumined Heart" radio program available for download. You can also find it here on the Watchful Gate, on the Fr. Seraphim Rose Page. These are really excellent and worth listening to, whatever your interests are at the watchful gate.

"It is more important to remember God than it is to remember to breathe."

"Whenever in your path you find unchanging peace, beware: You are very far from the divine paths trodden by the weary feet of the saints.  For as long as you are journeying in the way to the city of the Kingdom and are drawing nigh the city of God, this will be a sign for you: the strength of the tempations that you encounter. And the nearer you draw nigh and Progress, the more temptations will multiply against you."

-St. Issac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies, from Homily 42

Before he entered the Orthodox Church and became Fr. Seraphim Rose, Eugene Rose went to San Francisco to study Zen at the Academy founded by Alan Watts.  After exposure to both the best known Zen masters and teachers in the country as well as Alan Watts' "hipster Zen" and the Beats, Eugene, went on to study Taoism under Gi Ming Shien.  This document, his resulting Berkeley Masters thesis, shows his intellectual progress up to the point before he discovered Orthodox Christianity.

This is a large PDF, scanned from a copy, which preserves Eugene's Orthography of Chinese characters right on the typewritten page.

I am finally migrating content from the quick and ugly pages I created "just to get something in place", to the Drupal CMS which offers a lot of options, and better maintainence for these pages.  More new content should follow soon!

-John Simmons, Watchful Gate Webmaster